For thousands of years, the Chinese have practiced erotic
techniques that enhance sexuality and overall well-being.
The legendary Yellow Emperor, who lived more than
four thousand years ago, was personally interested in ways to use
sex to maintain radiant health. His wisest health ministers created the
famous teachings known as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal
Medicine. His advisers on sexual activities compiled the ancient Taoist
manuals known as The Classic of the Plain Girl and The Counsels of a
Simple Girl.

The Classic of the Plain Girl inspired a great deal of sexual experi
mentation and led to various Taoist and Hindu practices known as
Tantra. Tantra means weaving—the weaving of two people who
transform sex into a lovemaking sacrament. Tantric erotic practices
enhance sexual intimacy through sexual positions, scents, images,
massage techniques, stories, visualizations, and other ways. Tantric
practices treat sexuality as an art form, an aesthetic intimacy and
vitality that celebrates love. Eastern sexuality is playful, intimate, and
sacred, inviting couples to touch, smell, and move together. The
ancient Tantric art of lovemaking encourages playful sounds and
interactions, creating not only intimacy but harmony with the spirit
of the heart.

The traditional Eastern and Western views of sexuality are quite
different. After intercourse, for instance, a Taoist Chinese man may
express gratitude for having "received the nectar of the woman's
enchanted garden." While Western sexuality focuses on the attain
ment of orgasm as a goal, traditional Chinese sexology is concerned
with the quality of the process of unfolding and opening up. It views
orgasm not as an end in itself but as a sacred interplay of opposites:
man and woman, hard and soft, giving and receiving.

In the West, sex is often looked at as a game with set roles and
positions. Men and women frequently use strategies, intrigue, and
seduction to obtain sex. With such a mind-set, the act of making love
often creates conflicts between the emotions and the body. "Sex as a
goal-oriented performance is the usual substitute when sex with
emotional commitment either fails to develop or is deliberately
avoided," noted William Masters and Virginia Johnson in The Pleasure
Bond. Preconceived expectations—all the props, all the things you
should have, should say, should do—create barriers and frustrations.

Most Western-influenced cultures do not accept sexuality as a
healthy and self-expressive part of life. Western sexuality often
involves unconscious scripts, the abuse of substances like alcohol that
numb the body and mind, and misguided beliefs that sex is sinful or
dirty. Boys learn negative egocentric attitudes about sex and develop
mental strategies of performance, conquest, and control. Girls learn to
distrust their sexuality, are taught that sex is immoral or uncon
trollable, or view sex as a way to control their mate.

In their search into
the art oflovemaking,
the ancient Chinese
Taoists went beyond
foods and herbs,
even beyond erotic
techniques .. .by con
sciously maneuvering
the human body's
chi, or life-energy.
They did this to enhance
sexual arousal, control
orgasm and intensify
ecstasy for both
men and women.

—Valentin ChuThe Yin-Yang Butterfly

Western men are often preoccupied with their external affairs and
thus are not in touch with their feelings or bodies. Sexual and
emotional intimacy are unfamiliar to them. Since men tend to be
sexually linear and goal-oriented, traditional Chinese sexology
focuses especially on giving men advice and guidance. A man's
sexual vulnerability is partly due to having genitals that are outside
his body, not contained within. He cannot hide his erection, nor can
he fake it.

According to ancient Taoist sexology, one of the fundamental
sexual differences between men and women is how they reach
orgasm. A man's sexual fluids are released out of his body, whereas a
woman's fluids are recirculated within her reproductive system. After
an orgasm, a man may feel drained and exhausted, ready to fall
asleep. Women, on the other hand, are often rejuvenated and
revitalized after an orgasm. A woman can masturbate frequently
without damaging her body. From the Eastern point of view, when a
man ejaculates excessively, he drains his energy and eventually ages
and weakens his body, particularly his immune system.

Fortunately, acupressure points and dietary adjustments can
strengthen a man's reproductive and immune systems. By conserving
semen and consciously ejaculating less, a man trades a few seconds of
intense pleasure for many comprehensive benefits. Preserving semen
actually strengthens a man's body, enabling him to live a healthier,
longer life and develop greater vitality, alertness, and mental clarity.

The more a man gives his partner acupressure and has intercourse
without ejaculating, the more attentive, intimate, and loving he
becomes. Both acupressure and intercourse are tremendously powerful
ways of giving pleasure and healing energy. If a man can deeply
fulfill his partner without dispersing his own reserves (containing
sperm and testosterone), his hormones will continue to drive him
affectionately to his mate.

According to ancient Chinese sexology, a man and a woman must
spend time playing together, being sensual and loving, before
engaging in intercourse. Loveplay or foreplay is fundamental to
intimacy, enabling couples to greet, touch, exchange vital energy, and
thereby attune themselves to each other.

The Classic of the Plain Girl compares male and female sexual
energies to fire and water, two polar elements in nature. A woman's
erotic energy is like water, it says. Just as it takes time for water to be
heated, it takes time for a woman to become fully aroused. Once
water is heated, however, it retains its warmth. A woman's sexual
pleasure is like a vast deep ocean, and she savors it much longer than
a man does his. A man's pleasure burns hot and fast. Left to his own
designs, he tends to climax much faster than his partner. After
ejaculating, his sexual energy cools quickly, often leaving him
depleted and drained.